SAN ANTONIO — A small business owner watched in disbelief as a criminal stole his livelihood.
It happened in a matter of minutes just one hour before Andrew Cano woke up.
The suspect can be seen on Ring video backing a truck into a driveway and dragging off a wood chipper worth $25,000.
Cano posted the surveillance footage on social media and quickly learned he wasn't alone. Neighbors sent him screenshots of what appears to be the same truck taking their property the next day.
Cano owns a landscaping business. This wood chipper was the first time he's invested in one, and the first time he could afford it.
This year, Cano says he finally got the approval to extend his home's privacy fence so he could hide his new machine. He planned to do the project this summer, but a broken appliance set the timeline back a couple of months.
"Two weeks before I spent the money to extend the fence, my AC went out on me. There went all my extra money," Cano explained. "This guy literally beat me by a good month and a half to the punch."
The theft happened Sunday in the Kingswood Heights neighborhood, near Bandera and Mainland.
Cano decided to sleep in that day, ignoring the Ring camera notifications on his phone.
"We have neighborhood cats that always set it off," he explained, thinking the notifications spotted another cat that morning.
The wood chipper was parked in front of his garage door. Cano says he usually parks his truck behind the machine to deter criminals from taking it. He also purchased a $300 lock.
"I purchased one of the best locks you can get for it. It's an all-steel encasing lock that covers the hitch," said Cano. "The lock I have, the chains go inside of it so you can't use them."
He forgot to park his truck behind the machine Sunday.
"I just couldn't believe my eyes that somebody would be so low," said Cano, describing his emotions while watching the footage of the man stealing his property.
Cano says the thief scoped out the property twice around 1 a.m. Sunday, then returned at 5:20 a.m.
The suspect can be seen backing a truck into Cano's driveway, then bypassing the steel lock on the wood chipper and hauling the machine away.
"He just strapped it and took it off," said Cano. "He just drug it out like that, so he was making all kinds of noise."
The wood chipper is a bright orange and black Echo BEAR CAT with a gas engine. It's too tall to fit in Cano's garage.
"It's not a very popular brand...there's not very many people around here that sell that type of machinery. It's a rare type of machine. I've never seen one in town," said Cano. "Usually woodchippers that you see are all red, all yellow. It's the only orange one that I've seen. No other brand has that color."
In half an hour, the wood chipper can do a job that would take workers hours to complete. With it, Cano can do more jobs while saving time and money.
He used to rent the machine, but after too many problems with malfunctions and the inconvenience of picking it up and dropping it off, Cano decided to invest in one.
"I use it as my livelihood. It's how I feed my family. It's gone," he said. "I put stuff on hold because I can't do work...until we figure this out."
Cano posted the surveillance video online. He soon learned he wasn't alone. Other neighbors believe the same suspect took their property the very next day.
"I've had a few responses, private messages. 'This guy stole my trailer. This guy stole my trailer,'" said Cano.
While Cano would be happy getting his machine back, what would make him happiest is an arrest.
"If anyone gives any tips that leads to his arrest, I'm offering $1,000. It's all I got."
The truck in the surveillance video appears to be a 2003 to 2006 Cateye Chevy Silverado with an extended cab.
Cano has insurance, but he's still out a lot of money, forcing him to start over. He's filed a police report and provided investigators the wood chipper's VIN number.
If you have any information on this case, call police.